ICE is trying to buy a warehouse at 29 Elizabeth Drive in Chester, Bloomberg reported. The warehouse’s owner is a subsidiary of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who made no comment to the local press other than to say he learned of the situation through a local newspaper.
Last trading hands in late 2021, the warehouse is 60 miles from Manhattan and 15 miles from the airport, relevant when you consider ICE’s typical operations under the Trump administration. The property was last valued by Orange County at $25 million.
The buyer is part of the controversy as recent actions in Minneapolis have increased the unpopularity of Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
The uproar also concerns ICE’s likely use of the facility, should a purchase occur. A public notice on the Department of Homeland Security website proposes a guard building, improved security fencing and an outdoor recreation area, all of which appear to indicate a detention center.
Even local members of Trump’s party disagree with the possibility of a detention center in Chester. Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, a Republican, opposes an ICE conversion of the facility, preferring to redevelop it for light production or film studio space.
Congressman Pat Ryan, a Democrat, has submitted a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to DHS opposing ICE’s hunt for the warehouse. News 12.
The budget for ICE is one of the flashpoints in the latest battle over government funding, though it is unclear whether Democrats have the courage to push back on fully funding the agency. Last time, Congress approved $45 billion for expanded enforcement and detention operations as ICE pursues “megacenters” that could hold thousands of detainees.
— Holden Walter Warner
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